Self-rescue failed.

Zhu Xiaoce had already left before Pei Qian realized that this film didn't require acting skills at all!

All he had to do was strike a few poses and make a few expressionless gestures!

The story was told through narration, and the narration was voiced by Director Zhu Xiaoce himself.

Pei Qian was said to be the lead actor, but he was just a tool; the director's only acting requirement was to be expressionless!

Pei Qian held his forehead, feeling that his situation wasn't good.

The first layer of the triple insurance seemed to be half gone...

Now he could only hope that *Game Producer* and Moyu Internet Cafe could turn the tide!

...

Before the Spring Festival holiday.

Ma Yang sent the decoration plan for Moyu Internet Cafe.

Pei Qian took a look and it was exactly what he had asked for, without any compromises.

Even the small cinema was included!

There were no discounts on the contract; he paid the rent directly on a quarterly basis. Three months' rent plus the deposit instantly took out 1.2 million.

The renovation would also cost four to five hundred thousand.

Since this place was originally a detached building with a glass curtain wall outside and a well-decorated restaurant inside, the renovation didn't have to start from scratch like a bare shell.

So the price of the renovation wasn't too outrageous; it was mainly structural modifications, such as partitioning the internet cafe and the coffee shop, building a bar, and so on.

Then there was the price of purchasing various equipment.

Fifty high-end computers, at 26,000 each, added up to 1.3 million.

Adding all of this together, plus other expenses such as purchasing tables and chairs, hiring receptionists, network administrators, chefs, etc., the initial investment would directly throw in more than 3 million.

Pei Qian didn't feel any heartache; on the contrary, he was very happy.

The higher the cost, the more miserable the loss – that was a good thing!

Moreover, this money wasn't being taken out all at once.

First, he paid the rent and renovation fees, then after the New Year, construction would start, and after the renovation was completed, he would need to purchase computers, hire people, and so on.

During this period, the two games were still making profits, so the expenses could be covered.

Ma Yang also seemed very ambitious, even suggesting that he wouldn't go home for the New Year and would stay here to supervise the construction.

Pei Qian quickly stopped him.

If you don't go home for the New Year, the renovation workers will have to go home!

But seeing Ma Yang's enthusiastic and energetic appearance, Pei Qian felt a sense of security.

The more serious Ma Yang was, the greater the chance of failure!

Brothers are still the ones who give people peace of mind.

On the other side, the design draft for *Game Producer* was basically completed.

Pei Qian went through the game process again, especially the narration text.

After reading it, he felt it wasn't enough.

He spent three hours revising the narration text, taking the feeling of sarcasm up two more levels.

Some of the content was so bad that Pei Qian himself was embarrassed to write it.

Too much!

It was really too much!

But in order to lose money, Pei Qian had to grit his teeth and write it down against his conscience!

After revising it, he sent the file to Lü Mingliang, and it was considered finalized.

"Next, I need to find art resources on the resource site for outsourcing."

"Find me the most expensive concept artist, understand?"

Pei Qian repeatedly instructed.

Lü Mingliang nodded vigorously: "I understand, President Pei! I will definitely be as meticulous and strict with the art resources as Brother Huang!"

"Uh... after I find a good artist, do I need to check with you?"

Pei Qian thought for a moment: "Probably not."

The most expensive concept designers should all be at a decent level. Pei Qian didn't know much about art, so whether he looked at it or not wouldn't make much difference.

"Okay, President Pei!"

Walking out of Pei Qian's office, Lü Mingliang couldn't help but sigh.

President Pei is not only meticulous about art resources, but also trusts me, his subordinate, so much!

It's so touching!

I must complete the task assigned to me by President Pei!

...

Art resources are very important to a game.

A beautiful skin can give players a good first impression, which helps to increase the game's revenue.

Pei Qian was well aware of this.

So why did he keep spending a lot of money on art resources? Didn't he know that this was contrary to his desire to lose money?

It was mainly because there was no better way!

The system restricted him from deliberately purchasing inferior services. Everything Pei Qian purchased had to be roughly in line with its true value.

He could raise the price to a certain extent, but not too outrageously.

If Pei Qian went to buy those very ordinary art resources, he wouldn't be able to spend all the money!

A little calculation would show that the place where a game spends the most money is...

Art resources!

If he didn't spend more money in this area, where else could Pei Qian spend more money?

Therefore, if Pei Qian wanted to increase the cost of the game, he had to spend more money on game resources.

Moreover, was it safe to buy cheap art resources?

The lesson of *Ghost General* was still vivid in his mind...

If he hired an artist at a low price, what if he accidentally encountered a master like Ruan Guangjian who was disguised as a newbie? Wouldn't that be a complete disaster?

He wouldn't have spent the money, and the game's image quality wouldn't have gone down.

That would be a bloody loss!

Therefore, after comprehensive consideration, it was most cost-effective to spend a lot of money on art resources.

Besides, the game *Game Producer* wasn't the kind of game that relied on graphics.

To lose money, he mainly hoped that its boring gameplay and annoying narration would work.

In Pei Qian's opinion, as long as the gameplay and the annoying narration could successfully ignite the players' anger, then the game would be a success.

What good would it do if the graphics were beautiful?

...

Back at his workstation, Lü Mingliang opened the resource site and began to look for a suitable concept artist.

In Lü Mingliang's view, concept design was very important for the game *Game Producer*.

Because a lot of the content in the game was to concretize abstract concepts.

For example, when players choose between "heavy氪 (kè – spending)" and "light氪 (kè – spending)", these two different choices correspond to two different areas of the room, and the areas must have different elements to show.

"Heavy氪 (kè – spending)" is an abstract concept, and the concrete content is: silhouettes of spending thousands of gold coins, game coins all over the ground, and the image contrast between gold-glowing氪金 (kè jīn – whale/heavy spender) players and scantily clad free players, and so on.

From abstract to concrete, this process requires the artist's re-creation.

In other words, if this process is done in an ordinary way, it is just completing the task;

But if it is done well, it really turns the game into art.

Therefore, Lü Mingliang didn't dare to be careless, and carefully searched the resource site for concept artists who charged high prices, had a good reputation, and had outstanding works.

"This... doesn't seem to work, although it looks good, the style is a bit monotonous."

"This... is too realistic, it doesn't fit."

"Hmm? This one is good."

Lü Mingliang quickly screened and was suddenly attracted by a representative work of art.

"Why does it feel... so familiar?"

Lü Mingliang felt that this style of art was somewhat familiar, very grand, with a prominent style, and impressive.

Looking at the introduction again.

The artist's name was Ruan Guangjian, and his representative work was *Ghost General*!

He was already among the top concept designers on the resource site with the highest asking price!

"Isn't this the artist of *Ghost General*?!"

"He has cooperated with President Pei, and he is good at all kinds of styles. This candidate is perfect!"